Technological breakthrough at BAU

Boro is the single largest crop in the country, contributing to 55 percent of nearly 35 million tonnes of the annual crop. Traditional means of cultivation consumes 2.33 million litres of water to produce 1 tonne of rice, i.e. we use nearly 45 million litres of water for Boro production annually. That is a colossal waste of water in a water-hungry country such as ours. This is where valuable research of Professor Moshiur Rahman of Bangladesh Agriculture University (BAU) becomes significant. His work put to test the theory that seedlings do not need to be grown in the nursery but be sown directly in a dry field instead of soaking the field during the period. The process "direct-seeded Boro rice technology" has been successfully tested in six rice-rich districts. The results show a 50 percent reduction in water and diesel-usage per hectare.

Such a breakthrough comes at the right time. Data available with BAU shows that if a majority of the 5 million hectares were to come under this new system of cultivation, there would be major water savings, not to mention savings in electricity, as there are some 1.6 million privately-owned shallow tube wells and public tube wells which utilise some 10 million tonnes of water and 1,000 megawatts of electricity a day during peak Boro season.

It is precisely this sort of initiative that needs to be encouraged by the concerned ministry. Testing on a larger scale can only be done through a government directive and if the results are positive, we have everything to gain by the adoption of the method.